How we calculate your net

The Rest Is Yours compares cities on one thing only: how much you keep each month after taxes, contributions and the cost of living. This page explains, plainly, how we get to that number, how accurate it is, and where the limits are.

Why the gross misleads: what the research says

It's not an impression: it's a documented phenomenon. Behavioral economics calls it money illusion, the systematic tendency to reason in nominal figures rather than real purchasing power (Shafir, Diamond and Tversky, 1997), compounded by the fact that less visible taxes get underweighted in decisions (Chetty, Looney and Kroft, 2009). Urban economics, for its part, has said for forty years that wages and local prices are determined together and must be read together (Roback, 1982): adjust salaries for local cost of living and city rankings change, sometimes flip (Moretti, 2013). And expat tax regimes are no footnote: causal evidence shows they measurably shift where people choose to work (Kleven, Landais and Saez, 2013). The Rest Is Yours exists to put those three pieces, net pay, local prices and regimes, in front of you before you sign.

The model in 4 steps

1. Market salary by role and seniority. Estimates anchored to recent salary surveys (Robert Half, Hays, Morgan McKinley, Levels.fyi 2025/26), shown as a range, not a single flat figure.
2. Taxes and contributions. Standard regime, single employee with no children, 2025/26 rates, local surtaxes included where they apply (regional/municipal, cantonal, state/city).
3. Cost of living. Rent for a studio or one bedroom, food, transport, utilities and personal expenses, for 1 person. Numbeo estimates cross checked with official sources.
4. Real savings = monthly net − monthly cost of living. That's the number the ranking is built on.

How accurate the numbers are

The tax models are validated by comparing their output against each country's official or reference calculators, across a grid of representative incomes. Deviations typically fall within 0.1% to 0.5% of net income. These are stated estimates: they exist to compare, not to reproduce a payslip.

The method is an independent clean room reimplementation of each tax system, written from the cited law and official documents rather than from our own engine, and cross checked against official government calculators wherever one is reachable. The table below shows every income we tested and how far our net landed from the reference.

Full per city sources, verification dates and status live on the data page.

Expat tax regimes

Where they exist, preferential regimes for people relocating are modelled and can be switched on: they reduce taxable income according to local rules. The engine currently models:

• Regime impatriati (Italy)
• Beckham Law (Spain)
• 30%-ruling (Netherlands)
• Régime impatriés (France)

Assumptions: an employee who meets the regime's relocation, duration and threshold requirements; applied from the first eligible year. Eligibility must be verified individually: it depends on prior residence, contract type, minimum income and timing. When in doubt, the standard regime is the prudent estimate.

Currency conversion

Amounts in foreign currency are converted at ECB reference rates, updated periodically along with the rest of the data. Current reference: 1 GBP = €1.16 · 1 CHF = €1.09 · 1 USD = €0.86. The UAE dirham (AED) is pegged to the dollar (fixed USD peg), so it follows its movements against the euro.

What we DON'T do

• The ranking is never influenced by commercial partners: the order depends solely on the calculated real savings.
• Any referrals are always declared as such and kept separate from the calculation. Today we show none.
• We don't sell your data and we don't use it for advertising profiling.

Disclaimer. The Rest Is Yours is not tax, legal or financial advice. The numbers are indicative and refer to a standardized profile. Before deciding to relocate or accept an offer, check with a qualified professional.

Known limits

• These are estimates for a standardized profile (single, no children, employee): your actual situation may differ: family, deductions, other income, supplementary pensions.
• A global multiplier plus a few corrections can't capture every city×role nuance. That's fine: these are estimates, not payslips.
• Data ages and is refreshed periodically. Rates and costs change during the year.

Data last updated: July 2026 · data vintage 2025/26.

Who's behind this

The Rest Is Yours comes from a lived problem: after moving countries more than once, we got tired of finding out only after the move how much we’d actually keep. The tool that came out of it has one rule: every number is checked against official calculators, and every limit is stated.